The only bad thing is that I really want to drive something a bit nicer & more back friendly but don't want to go back in years & spend more $! Been seeing & liking the RX 330 from 2004 to 2007 generation. Friend had one and the ingress/egress was excellent for my spinal issues & with the leather seats, it was like heaven!!! Just to be able to slide over into a power seat was wonderful...don't really need a 6 cylinder engine as a 4 is plenty for my kind of driving. I guess any power seated car will do but these RX's are the "whole package" as far as I'm concerned.

Unfortunately the wife would go ballistic even though we each use our own funds to purchase our cars...the amount of aggravation she'd give me would be outrageous. She went "nuts" back in '09 when I briefly considered buying a used late model Volvo S40 just to get better seats. Found that the seats were no better than my current Civic but she made me miserable for the few days I actually went test driving them! A shame that she reacts so stupidly when an idea I have is different than what she thinks is logical.

Will have the funds within a short time period, but the point is it's not a smart financial move on my part especially since I was let go from Uncle Sam and am deciding between retirement & some other plan for the future. The point of my rant is that I'd like to eventually get something much more comfortable EVENTUALLY with a power seat so I can have the perfect pain free driving position. Time will tell!

Thanks guys for letting me get this out finally in a community that understands about my passion for cars. She doesn't get it...sure most wives don't...but I'm tired of settling & always doing the right thing financially also!!!!

Way back, I had an F 150. I ran summer and winter tires on it, so I don't remember which set it was, but one of them had the perfect height for me to get in or out or the seat.I felt like I didn't have to bend down or step up to get into the seat.It must have been the winter set, which were smaller and narrower.The summer tires were oversize.

Five year loan, 0%, $235/month. I can't claim a windfall because other recurring or emergency bills seem to have taken away any advantage of not having a car payment. Maybe things will look better for me after paying off a roof repair later this year.

You know most financial specialist would say it totaly different in the fact that should pay cash an appreciating asset not a depreciating one. think of it this way if you pay cash for that auto and you trade it in you have lost money, when you could of held that money in an intrest loan and profited from it, in stead losing it. people now a days tend to trade there cars more often also and with a simple interest loan with cars right now you can pay it off when you chose too, with no penelty of doing so.

I've never paid off a car before, usually trading them somewhere between two and three years old. Luckily they were all Hondas, so I always had equity even after only two years. I watched my friends trade other makes after a few years only to roll $8-$10k in negative equity into a new car loan!

I've had my current car, a 2006 Mazda3 s 5-door, since December 2005 and it only has 82k miles on it. It looks great inside and out (not even a door ding), so I plan to keep it and enjoy life without a payment for the first time in 21 years of driving! I have six more payments of $332.14 per month left on my 72-month loan. I had a lot of credit card debt and a student loan back in 2005 and I only earned about $45k per year. The interest rate was the same for 60 or 72 months, so I went with the $50 lower payment even though it was for six rather than five years. Thankfully, it was a reasonable interest rate and with my $2000 down payment, I have never been 'upside-down' in my 72-month loan. The Mazda3 has turned out to be a class leader in residual values.